VPN providers S/D

Shopping around for a VPN provider... experiences, reviews, etc...

This is working pretty well for me

https://github.com/ziogas/digital-ocean-private-vpn

if you use opera it's got a free built-in VPN with 5 locations: canada, germany, netherlands, singapore, usa

not helpful if you want to use it for other apps obv

It’s not a VPN but a proxy, and please be careful using either proxy or VPN as they can look at anything you do. Free proxy/VPN = great example of the product being you.

I’ve been using Private Internet Access for years mainly for when I travel or need to use sketchy WiFi networks. They are considered reputable, for whatever that’s worth. I keep meaning to roll my own with algo or whatever, but it gets complicated and I’d need to constantly maintain it - keep every possible attack vector patched and all that.

Why not roll your own with Algo? - https://blog.trailofbits.com/2016/12/12/meet-algo-the-vpn-that-works/

ok that's creepy

Hotspot Shield is the best VPN I've used, to date: https://www.compuchenna.co.uk/hotspot-shield-review/

Forticlient rules

i'm being nudged by friends towards NordVPN

any warnings or disagreement from ilxors? (and if so, what's better?)

It's fine, tbh I find them all much of a muchness now, just find the best deal. it's not like in China when you have to choose the few that actually work.

Nord works fine for me.

👍🏽

Are there good free VPNs or do you have to spend money on this stuff nowadays?

if you aren't looking for a pro commercial workplace type vpn just install opera, it comes with a basic free vpn you can switch on

Ah didn’t know that. The BBC has blocked listening to Radio 3 podcasts from abroad (all we can do is listen in real time like this is 2002? Fuck off) so I pay Mullvad a few euros to pretend I’m from the UK just so I can listen to the Proms whenever I want.

if you aren't looking for a pro commercial workplace type vpn just install opera, it comes with a basic free vpn you can switch on

― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino)

Aha, I didn't know this and it prompted me to look and it seems there is a free firefox VPN extension too - anyone know if that one is decent? I'm pretty happy with firefox as my main browser so would rather not switch at the moment.

Most R3 podcasts are available on RSS, Boring Maryland - any reason that can't work?

us lovers of Viennese classicism and the like are far too old to know what an RSS is!

speaking for myself here, but I still don't know what an RSS is. Probably because I was very offline (not always physically - but definitely spiritually) for the first decade of the internet.

Hah, never used RSS. I’ll have to check if it works. I’d used BBC Sounds for yoinks and just this summer they blocked it from non-UK listeners.

It's the delivery mechanism for podcasts. You can use Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Downcast, Castro, etc etc

I sort of knew what it was then

You can use it for other things too, but you don't really don't have to know how it works, just get one of those apps and it'll have all the podcasts available anywhere all over the world. Kind of magic.

Commafeed is a decent and no-nonsense web-based RSS option, if you don't want to search out an app.

(I use this to subscribe to a few podcasts, along with many other blogs and news sources.)

Are there good free VPNs or do you have to spend money on this stuff nowadays?

Proton has a free one you can use in a pinch. They only have a small handful of servers if memory serves. Depends on what you need it for, I guess. I use Orbot (Tor) on my phone sometimes. My understanding is that it acts as a VPN on iOS. It's a bit finicky, though, but probably better anonymity than a VPN (where the VPN provider sees your traffic instead of your ISP). I also am a regular subscriber to iVPN or Mullvad, especially when I travel and am more dependent on dodgy WiFi.